1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a transport device designed for the lawn, garden, yard, beach, and other locations, including interior locations. The transport device provides a front wall, rear wall, and two side walls. The transport device also provides a bed for storage of transported contents.
2. Description of the Known Art
Lawn litter such as leaves, grass clippings, papers, twigs, and other debris may be raked into a pile. The person will then either bag the debris or place the debris in a wheel barrow. This method of transporting lawn litter has the disadvantage of being difficult to place within the bag or the wheelbarrow.
The bags and plastic bags can be difficult to MI causing the person to spill or otherwise drop the debris. Furthermore, the user must carry the contents, a task that may require physical strength. Bags cannot usually be dragged due to the bag ripping and spilling the contents.
Other devices such as wagons and wheelbarrows eliminate carrying the contents. However, wagons and wheelbarrows require a considerable economic investment by the user, and are bulky to store. Furthermore, the bags and wheelbarrows are not designed to assist with securing tools or other equipment.
Patents and patent applications disclosing information relevant to the present invention are disclosed below including U.S. Pat. No. D356,981. These patents and patent applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,351 issued to Hetland on Nov. 6, 1979 (“the '351 patent) teaches a lawn litter sled for the purpose of hauling leaves, grass clippings, papers, twigs and other such matter. A precut, corrugated cardboard taught by the '351 patent may be assembled into a rectangular, or other geometric form, sled that when filled with lawn litter may be easily dragged along the ground. The said apparatus taught by the '351 patent has a folding loading panel which, when in a horizontal position, enables the user to sweep lawn litter into the said sled, then by positioning the loading panel into a vertical position and by pulling on a provided rope, the loading panel may be secured in a vertical position by frictional forces the loading panel is attached to side panels through which fold and hold the loading panel upright to secure the contents of the sled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,133 issued to Reiner on Apr. 14, 1992 (“the '133 patent”) teaches a hauling device for leaves, litter, and other materials such as stone, earth, mulch, manure and tree stumps that comprises a tarpaulin with flexible support members and a rope including a unique assembly whereby the operator may secure and haul the collected material by pulling a loop of the rope. The tarpaulin taught by the '133 patent is fitted with flexible support members within hems along the rear side edge and along a portion of each side edge. The rope ends taught by the '133 patent are attached to the tarpaulin at both sides and threaded through the apertures of hardware located at both front and rear corners, thus providing a loop along the front side to be grasped either by the operator or a mechanical device such as a tractor. Once material is collected on the surface of the tarpaulin, the operator of the invention taught by the '133 patent pulls the loop and thereby harnesses the rear and side edges, flexes the support members, and in unison confines the collected material. As the operator continues to pull the loop, obstructions on the rope arrest the confining action to provide a towline for the operator to haul the device along the ground to another location. To unload the material, the '133 patent teaches that the operator releases the loop and grasps the device along the rear side and rolls out the material over the front side. After the device taught by the '133 patent is free of material, the operator gives the device a shake which retracts the rope and provides the device in a flat state to position for another load of material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,434 issued to Lanava on May 18, 1993 (“the '434 patent”) teaches a slidable utility carrier which has a rectangular bottom panel and four rectangular side panels which form a rectangular box-like structure having an open top. Each side panel taught by the '434 patent is hinged to the bottom panel and is secured to the adjacent side panel by removable fasteners. The carrier taught by the '434 patent can be collapsed to a fully opened state in which all of the panels lay in the same plane and extend outwardly from the bottom panel for collecting loose particulate material or to a compact state in which the side panels overlie the bottom panel to form a compact package for storing.